You Weren't Made to Do This Alone: God's Design for Support in Labor
Hey sweet mama! If you've been wrestling with wanting professional birth support while also desiring to keep your birth space sacred and intimate, this episode is an answer to prayer. I've been feeling led to share about virtual doula support because I know there's a mama out there whose heart is torn between these two desires. Maybe that's you? Let's explore how you can have the best of both worlds—expert guidance AND the privacy you're craving for your birth experience.
🎧 Listen to the Episode
The Heart Behind Virtual Birth Support
When I was pregnant with my first daughter Ellie during COVID, hospital restrictions were constantly changing. I ended up having what we lovingly called a "daddy doula" experience—my husband Brian stepped up in the most incredible ways to support me through labor. That experience of him being my primary support was one of the most bonding moments in our marriage.
But here's what I wish we'd known: While Brian was amazing, there were critical moments during my 12-hour labor where expert guidance would have made such a difference. I spent most of those hours standing up (exhausting!), and when medical interventions were suggested, we didn't know what questions to ask.
That's why I'm so passionate about virtual doula support now. It's not about replacing your husband's role—it's about empowering him to be the incredible birth partner God designed him to be.
What Makes Virtual Support Different?
Let me address the elephant in the room. When you hear "virtual doula," you might think it sounds less appealing than in-person support. But mama, let me share why this could be exactly what your family needs:
Three Game-Changing Benefits to Virtual Birth Support:
Privacy & Intimacy - Your birth space remains sacred between you, your husband, and your medical team
Affordability - Virtual support costs a fraction of in-person services (my in-person package is over $2,000, while virtual is significantly less)
Geographic Freedom - Access to faith-based support regardless of where you live
How Virtual Birth Support Actually Works
This isn't just showing up on video when you're in labor. It's comprehensive support that begins weeks before your due date:
During Pregnancy (Comprehensive Virtual Visits):
Deep dive into your birth goals, fears, and hopes
Create a personalized birth plan together
Train your husband with specific comfort measures, positions, and advocacy tools
Provide spiritual encouragement and prayer
Equip him with a complete guide to supporting you confidently
During Labor (24/7 On-Call Support):
Available from 2 weeks before your due date until baby arrives
Phone/text support during early labor and when active labor begins
Your husband's hands stay free for comfort measures while I guide from the "sidelines"
Real-time support for decision-making about interventions
Prayer and spiritual encouragement throughout
After Birth (Postpartum Support):
One comprehensive postpartum virtual visit to process your birth
6 weeks of continued phone/email support
Help with recovery, breastfeeding, and adjustment questions
Ongoing prayer support (this has been so meaningful for my mamas!)
📖 Scripture for Your Heart
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."
- Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Throughout Scripture, we see God providing the right helper at the right time:
Moses had Aaron when he felt inadequate
David had Jonathan during his wilderness season
Mary had Elizabeth to rejoice with her in miraculous circumstances
God designed us for community, and virtual support allows you to have that wise counsel while maintaining the intimate birth experience you desire.
Who Is Virtual Birth Support Perfect For?
This type of support resonates most with:
✓ Christian families wanting faith at the center of their birth experience
✓ Couples seeking affordable professional support (without the thousands in cost)
✓ Mamas with supportive husbands who are eager to be hands-on but need guidance
✓ Women who value privacy during birth but still want a professional safety net
✓ Families facing hospital restrictions limiting support people
✓ Anyone who believes we weren't meant to navigate birth alone
The Technology Is Simple
All you need:
Reliable internet connection
Smartphone, tablet, or computer with video capability
An open heart ready to be supported
It's literally like having a doula in your pocket whenever you need one!
Your Husband as Birth Warrior
What excites me most is how virtual support empowers husbands to step into their God-given role as protector and supporter. This isn't about replacing him—it's about equipping him to be the birth partner you need.
Just like my experience with Brian, this can become one of the most bonding experiences in your marriage. But with expert guidance, he'll have the confidence and tools to support you even more effectively.
🙏 A Prayer for Your Birth Journey
Lord Jesus, I pray for this precious mama reading right now. You know her heart and the desires she has for her birth. I pray you would give her clarity about the support she needs in this season. Prepare her husband's heart as he steps into his calling as husband and father. Strengthen their partnership and their marriage bond.
Lord, let this birth story reveal Your faithfulness in new and beautiful ways. Cast out all fear about her birth story and finding the right support. Replace it with confidence in the ways You are providing for her. We love you, Jesus. In Your name, Amen.
Ready to Explore Virtual Support?
If this conversation stirred something in your heart, I'd be honored to connect with you. I offer free 15-minute discovery calls where we can:
Talk about your specific birth hopes and dreams
Discuss how virtual support might fit your situation
See if we're a good fit for working together
Answer any questions or concerns you have
Remember: Spots are limited as I only take a couple clients per month to ensure everyone gets the attention they deserve.
📎Resources & Links Mentioned
📞 Free 15-Minute Discovery Call: Schedule your no-obligation consultation at faithoverfearbirth.com
✨ Christian Mama Birth Prep Library - Free birth prep tools, worship playlists & more
✝️ Online Christian Childbirth Education - Explore my complete birth preparation self-paced course
💛 Work with Me 1:1 - Personalized pregnancy and birth support that integrates faith and evidence-based care, including virtual coaching, doula support, and comprehensive childbirth education
📣 Let’s Stay Connected
If this episode encouraged you:
Hit subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Text a friend and share the show with a fellow mama.
Grab your free birth prep tools at the Christian Mama Birth Prep Library.
Final Thoughts
Virtual birth support isn't settling for less—it's choosing what's best for YOUR family. It's embracing the technology God has provided to access expertise, encouragement, and prayer support while maintaining the intimate birth experience you desire.
Whether you're facing financial constraints, geographic limitations, or simply prefer a more private birth experience, virtual support can transform your birth story while honoring your values.
Remember mama, God didn't design you to walk this journey alone. Let's choose faith over fear together, one virtual connection at a time.
Meet Your Host —
Natalie is a certified birth doula and childbirth educator in Jacksonville, FL. She's trained through DONA International, certified as a Body Ready Method Pro, and an advanced VBAC doula. Through Faith Over Fear Birth, she equips Christian women to experience peaceful, faith-filled births through both virtual and in-person support.
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📄 Full Episode Transcript
Hey there, sweet Mama. Welcome back to Faith Over Fear, the Christian Pregnancy and Birth podcast. I'm so glad you are joining me here today because I've really been praying over this episode. I just feel like there is a mama who's listening to this right now, and you're expecting your sweet baby soon.
But your heart is torn between wanting an experienced doula or birth support while also keeping your birth an intimate and private space. So maybe you've looked into hiring a doula before, but the cost feels overwhelming for your family or your situation right now. Or maybe you just really have not connected well with a doula—a doula who shares your faith, who understands that birth is a very sacred and spiritual experience, and you don't want to just have anybody invited into that space. So if any of that resonates with you, I pray that this episode is an encouragement to you and just provides you with some hope, because today I'm going to be sharing something that could possibly change a lot about how you're approaching your upcoming birth.
If you don't know me already, my name is Natalie. I am a Christian birth doula and childbirth educator in Jacksonville, Florida. I am certified as a birth doula through DONA International. I'm a Body Ready Method Pro and also an advanced VBAC doula, meaning I've had extra training for supporting families who are wanting to undergo a VBAC or a vaginal birth after cesarean. And I've had the privilege of supporting many families through birth doula support.
But much more than just certifications, I'm also a mama myself, and I really do understand the sacred nature of birth and its significance in your life and in your family, and also understanding the importance of having support for your family, for yourself, and your family's unique needs. So today this episode will be about how you can find doula support and also have an intimate birth experience that honors and glorifies God with your husband as the primary support person through virtual doula support. So we're going to dive into what that looks like, what virtual doula support looks like, and see if that's the right fit for you.
Whenever I was pregnant for the first time with Ellie, this was during COVID, and the hospital restrictions were changing all the time. It ended up being that I could have two support people with me by the time I actually had her in June of 2021, but it was so up in the air. I didn't even look into hiring a virtual doula because I didn't even, first of all, know that existed, but I did not understand how that could be helpful for me and my husband at the time.
Brian, thankfully, is such a supportive husband and he really stepped up in the most incredible ways to make me feel like he was going to support me in my birth experience. So I inadvertently, I joke, like "daddy doula-ed" him and taught him comfort measures and labor positions. And we talked through ways to advocate for me during the birth and all these things. And so when the time came for the birth itself, he was such an incredible "daddy doula," as we called him.
That experience that we had together of him supporting me through the labor up to that point—granted, we had been married for not even two years—but it was one of the most bonding experiences we had ever shared at that point. And Brian wasn't just standing on the sidelines timidly, like "I don't really know what to do." He was an active participant in the labor, and it was so beautiful to just see him stepping up in that way.
But here's one thing that I do wish we had done differently: I do wish that we had a little bit more expert guidance during some very critical points in the labor. So I mentioned it in my birth story, but I labored standing up for a lot of my labor, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I labored for 12 hours and standing up for most of that time completely wore me out. Labor's going to wear you out no matter what, but if you can find labor positions that are comfortable but also help progress the labor, you save yourself the energy waste of finding positions that just take more energy, like standing up.
Another thing is we ended up having some medical interventions, like breaking my water and things like that. And it would've been so nice to have been able to talk with a doula or someone more experienced with the interventions and just been able to know what questions to ask and all the things. And that would've also just been another critical moment during the labor. Not that I regret my labor—of course I don't. But just thinking back to that experience, I think Brian would have succeeded even more, and there could have just been a couple tweaks that would've just made it even better.
I'm bringing this up because while in-person doula support is absolutely incredible—that is obviously what I do for a living, and so I love in-person doula support—however, that is not an option for everybody, both financially and geographically, or you just don't have a good connection with a doula in your area. And the Lord really just showed me this virtual birth support option, and I have just really embraced this as a way for the Lord to use me to support families through this very intimate, vulnerable experience of preparing for birth, giving birth, and then that early postpartum time.
So if you have a husband, or it's a different partner—it's your mom that's going to be your birth partner, or your sister or a friend, whoever that person's going to be—I'm going to say husband probably primarily because for most of us, it's going to be our husband that will be our primary birth partner. But whoever that partner is, they want to step up and be that support for you, but sometimes they don't have the knowledge, the information, the experience to draw on to be able to give you the support that you need. And they just might need a little bit of extra support. And so that's exactly what virtual birth support does—it's just providing that extra layer of support for your birth team.
I would love to share with you—I always tie scripture into what we talk about on this podcast—but the Lord drew me to Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, and it says, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."
So I read this and I immediately think God designed us for community. Throughout all of scripture, we see how the Lord has been providing exactly the right helper at exactly the right time. Some examples of this: He gave Moses Aaron whenever Moses felt inadequate—remember he had a speech impediment or something where he didn't feel adequate. And then we have David who had Jonathan. Jonathan came at just the right time to help encourage him as he was fleeing from Saul in the wilderness. And then Mary had Elizabeth who was there to just rejoice in her pregnancy and all that the Lord was doing, even though Mary was a virgin and the circumstances were wild.
I hope you can see your husband as not only your primary support, but he's going to be the one that is providing the hands-on comfort measures, holding your hand, speaking life over you, praying over you, and being your strength when the labor gets intense. Because God designed our marriage to reflect our relationship with him. But then there's also, like I'm saying, so much throughout scripture that just shows how the Lord designed us for community—that when we surround ourselves with wise counsel, with people that are just pointing us to the truth, pointing us to Jesus, there's such a beauty in that group effort, in that community effort, because that's how he designed us.
So a couple things I wanted to address in regards to virtual birth support, because I think some people hear that and they're like, "Okay, that seems way less appealing to me than having an in-person doula." And for some, that is absolutely the case. But I think for many couples, having virtual birth support can really enhance the birth experience. It's not adding an extra person into the room. If you're a private person, this is probably going to be your preference anyway.
The three primary benefits that I keep thinking about, the three reasons why this is appealing to a lot of families, is first of all, the privacy aspect. You're keeping your birth space sacred between you, your husband, and medical team. Number two is the cost. Virtual support is going to be a fraction of the cost of in-person support. And then number three is just geographic availability. Not everyone has local doulas who share their faith, who share their values, or even just there may not be a doula available in their area. So virtual support can bridge that gap.
But then here's the thing about virtual support. It's not just showing up via phone or via video when you're in labor. It's the preparation component of what makes this so unique. So what this looks like in practice is multiple prenatal visits via video. So like Zoom, for instance, where we're going deep into your goals, your fears, your hopes, and we are creating a personalized birth plan, and I'm training your husband with specific comfort measures.
So this is usually about two to three comprehensive visits where, by the end, he literally has like this beautiful guide, the knowledge, the confidence, and the tools to effectively support you during labor. So he's learning these pain management techniques and labor positions and advocacy tools. And then just tons and tons of spiritual encouragement for your birth.
We also have that 24/7 on-call support starting two weeks before your due date all the way until you deliver that baby. So I know I just said I don't love the idea of laboring standing up for 12 hours, but I also understand that it takes a while sometimes for mamas to have a baby. And if it was a day-long labor, that 24/7 on-call support means that, you know, you're going to have someone.
So then during early labor, you can have phone calls, texts, and when you need more active support, we just hop on video. You have continuous support via FaceTime or Zoom or whatever video platform you want to use. That means your husband's hands are literally free to do the comfort measures while I guide you from, quote-unquote, "the sidelines." And then when decision points come up—like if they're suggesting breaking your water or an epidural or whatever intervention or decision you need to make—you can talk it through with someone who understands both the medical side and the spiritual significance of the decisions you're making.
And then after birth, we have one postpartum visit—again, virtually—to process the birth, answer questions. How's your recovery? How's your husband? How's the baby? How's breastfeeding going? And then you get continued six weeks into that postpartum time of phone and email support. And then just that continued spiritual encouragement.
There's been a mama that just delivered recently, and she's been going through some stuff even after she had the baby and being able to just speak encouragement with her and navigate some medical stuff that's happened after the fact. But then also just being able to end our phone call with praying over her. And I know she's told me so many times just what a help that is to be able to just have somebody in your corner in that way.
So that's an overview of what that virtual support looks like. And just to highlight again that typically this type of support when it's in person is thousands of dollars. My in-person package right now is over $2,000. And this virtual support option not only geographically has a greater reach for people that don't have access, but also financially, it's a huge difference to be able to have this type of support at a fraction of the cost.
So if that's something that is appealing to you, something to keep in mind—the kind of perfect fit for the families that are wanting or thinking about virtual birth support. I find this is most helpful for Christian families who are wanting faith at the center of this season. This is for families who see the wisdom of inviting professional expert support but again are needing that more affordable option. This is also great for mamas who have a really supportive husband—a husband who is eager to be that hands-on support. They're just needing that extra guidance to know what to do, when to do it, how to do it.
Also helpful for women who value and want more privacy during their birth experience, yet still wanting the kind of safety net of having a professional to help guide if and when needed. This is also helpful for couples if they're facing hospital restrictions or other limits that would inhibit them from having another person during the birth.
And then this is especially great for somebody who just believes that we were not meant to walk this journey alone. And I really do believe that virtual birth support is not settling for less. This can be exactly what your family might need—just a way to receive that support and that encouragement through the power of technology, which has grown so much, especially since COVID.
Really, as far as technology requirements, you would just need to have a reliable internet connection, something like a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer that has video capabilities so we can do our virtual visits and things. But that's really it. Virtual doula support is literally like having a doula in your pocket whenever you need it. That's so cool.
I created this virtual birth support option because I kept seeing such a gap in mamas wanting to feel supported but feeling like their only option was to have an in-person doula or just trying to go at it alone. But like I'm saying, God just really did not make us to navigate this alone. And it really is such a blessing, and it's his grace that we have the technology that we have so that we can have access to this level of expertise and encouragement and prayer in a virtual setting.
It also just really empowers husbands to be able to step into the calling they have as head of the house, as protector of their wife, to be able to just make it a bonding experience like I know it was for Brian and me to be able to go through that labor together. And then what I love most of all and what excites me most is just the beauty of inviting the Lord into this experience—that he gets to be front and center of this whole birth experience. He already has this story written, but it is beautiful to be able to just be reminded of that, because I think it is really easy to forget that, especially when you're going through such an intense thing like giving birth.
So if this conversation is stirring up some stuff in you, stirring up some hope or encouragement, and you're maybe thinking, "This honestly sounds like something I could use," I would absolutely be honored if you would schedule a free 15-minute discovery call with me. This is an absolutely no-obligation consultation where we're just going to talk about your specific hopes and dreams and goals for your upcoming birth, how virtual support might be a good fit for your situation. It's also a time for me to see if we're a good fit for each other because doula work is very personal. And then I can answer any lingering questions or concerns you have about this support and things like that.
But yeah, if you're feeling at all interested in this, I would love it if you would go to my website—it's faithoverfearbirth.com—and just book a 15-minute discovery call with me. Spots for this type of support are limited. I only take on a couple clients a month, just so that everyone's getting the attention they need. I can't take endless mamas. But yeah, so go there, faithoverfearbirth.com, fill out the form to do a discovery call with me. I would just absolutely love to be able to support you.
And then before we close out today, I just wanted to pray over you and just speak this truth over you:
Lord Jesus, I just pray for this sweet mama that's listening right now. Lord Jesus, you know her heart and you know her hopes and just the desires of her heart for this birth, but you're perfectly writing her story. God, I just pray that right now you would just give her clarity about the support that she needs in this season. I ask that you would prepare her husband's heart as he's stepping into his calling as a husband and as a father. And I pray that you would just strengthen their partnership and their bond and their marriage. And Lord, just let this birth story reveal your faithfulness in new and beautiful ways. I just ask that you would cast out all fear about her birth story, about finding the right support, and Lord, just replace it with confidence in the means and the ways that you are providing for her. And we love you, Jesus. I ask this all in your name. Amen.
If this episode was a blessing to you and you feel like this could be an encouragement to some other mamas you know, please feel free to share it. And who knows, this could be an answer to the prayers that she's been having, the concerns that she's been having about her upcoming birth. And like I said, if you're ready to take that next step with me, remember to schedule your free discovery call. And I'm just so excited to connect with you.
I just love being able to use this podcast as a means to pour in and encourage and just use the gifts that the Lord has given me, the knowledge base that the Lord has given me. But I just really felt like this was a very timely episode to put out—that there's some mamas out there that would just so benefit from this type of support, even if it's a little bit unconventional. But I'm praying for you and just keep praying that the Lord would just continually remind you to choose faith over fear in this season.
But until next time, we will talk soon. Bye-bye for now.
